Gabriel Arnelio Torres, 25, of Miami, was arrested and charged with Unlawful Conveyance of Fuel in a Non-Commercial Motor Vehicle.

Around 2:25 a.m., a deputy saw a white van with its rear tag light out and also noticed a dark liquid dripping out the back doors.

A traffic stop was made in the Circle-K parking lot, on Tamiami Trail, south of Punta Gorda.

According to deputies, the van had a foul stench coming from it and brown liquid leaking out.

Torres gave the deputy permission to search the van and told them he works for a company called Oil for Less.

Inside the van were two large containers that held many gallons of cooking oil.

Deputies say Torres could not provide any paperwork for oil collection.

Torres and his passenger David Garcia denied being anywhere locally collecting the oil and said they were transporting it by contract from Orlando to Miami, deputies say.

A Punta Gorda Police officer arrived and said he'd seen this same white van with a large mirror on the top left rear that was behind Publix. The officer said he saw a long line of oil that the van had leaked while in the parking lot of Publix.

A further check of the van located a log of restaurants and other businesses where they took used cooking oil from Collier, Lee and Charlotte counties.

Publix said they would press charges which will be filed by PGPD as the stolen cooking oil was in its jurisdiction.

Tom Daniele, with Old Monty's Restaurant and Pizzeria, says while no oil was stolen from him, he said he doesn't think stealing used oil is worth a drive from Miami - saying he only gets about $50 a month for it.

"We have a
company, Griffin Industries, that comes and takes it whenever we call them and
it gets recycled and we get so much back per gallon," he said.

He did say that he's not happy to know criminal activity is taking place in the same strip mall where his business is located.

"What about
other things they might think of to take or break in to get something inside the
place - that's a little concerning," Daniele said.

The used cooking oil is utilized to make other fuels and is sold to other contracted companies and Oil for Less is not one of the contracted companies for Publix.

At this time, only Torres has been arrested for transporting the cooking oil/fuel in a non-commercial vehicle. Torres remains in the Charlotte County Jail on a $2,500 bond.